(dpa) - Serbian seeds swept ahead in opening matches at the Indian Wells Masters on Saturday with Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic reaching the third round.
Women's third seed Jankovic needed just 58 minutes to crush American Ahsha Rolle 6-0, 6-2.
But it was a struggle for Djokovic, who missed on a match point in the ninth game of the second set against Italian Andreas Seppi.
Drokovic then lost his own serve a game later before finally squeezing out a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win in windy conditions in the desert.
Argentine Juan Monaco defeated young Dutch hope Robin Haase 6-2, 6-4 while Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu put out Italy's Fabio Fognini 6-1, 7-6 (9-7).
Second seed Rafael Nadal was opening later against Santiago Giraldo of Colombia.
The Spanish world number two is defending his title from 2007 but is in a strong position after closing a points gap on number one rival Roger Federer.
Nadal has cut Federer's lead from 1,445 points at the end of last season to 350 points going into Indian Wells, the closest margin since May 10, 2004 when Federer led Andy Roddick by that same total.
After falling in the second round at the event a year ago, Federer has few points to defend, but depending on the results of both players in Indian Wells, the top position could be up for grabs going into Miami later this month.
Nadal has quarterfinal points to defend (125) while Federer has fourth round points coming off (75).
Federer has ranked a record 215 consecutive weeks at number one since February 2, 2004 while Nadal has been number two a record 138 straight weeks, since July 25, 2005. Djokovic lost the final last year to Nadal while winning his first Masters trophy in Miami.